For whatever reason, it somewhere/sometime became perceived as "being hip" to knock on Paul, so people go out of their way to knock him because they think they're being cool.

is extremely true and very unfortunately a very sad indictment on human nature and the need to be percieved as cool by what society/fashion etc dictates as the 'coolest'. The sadest part is that this disregards honesty for designer fabricated 'I like this as it is cool' often fake opinion .

I was hovever glad to see Rolling Stone mag (which I have detested for many years due to this tendency to view themselves as the prophets of taste) actually and eventually overcome this to give Paul's new release a very positive review. I have also noticed that whilst many of the general public like to engage in Paul bashing, that musicians often take a very different view and appreciate the incredible talents of ther man. James Taylor is someone who has always recognised Paul's brilliance.

Sadly Lenny Cravitz is not one of them. I remember reading a conversation with Lenny Cravitz where he raved about John because on the cover of 'Two Virgins' he had his *** hanging out. So what I say!!!! Does that make him a greater musician - answer no!

Paul may not have presented himself as the radical 'out-there' and perhaps more of the everyday joe, however it is the music that makes a musician great not nudity or stunts. Sadly when Paul leaves this world you just watch and suddenly he will be considered the coolest of the Beatles and many people will jump the fence to remain cool. John is great, Paul is great, a great musician is great - choosing to be fashionable and trendy is just basically sad.

Now having said all this I need to point out that fortunately many people love musicians based on their music and millions have and will always love Paul McCartney for what he has given to the world of music. A living legend who is still creating and giving.

I was following Twitter last night, whilst Paul was on the Graham Norton show on BBC1, looking for all tweets containing "Paul McCartney", and I would estimate that 85% of them were negative towards Paul.

As usual, the main complaints seemed to be that he is a)too old, b)too annoying, c)alive whilst John Lennon isn't.

I really fancied getting in to an argument with a few of them, but I've had a few too many of those lately, fancied a quiet night for a change!

It really is pathetic. He's not only achieved so much as a musician, he's also been a wonderful example of how a celebrity should behave, he's a credit to my country, and yet he gets some amazingly unfair flak. Even the Norton show - he should have been the sole subject of the show, and yet he was sandwiched in with the world and his wife. Sickening.

been around the stormy macca waters for eons now...'ram' was my first album ever by anybody...'back to the egg' the first ' i was there buying it day n date' first release by anyone ever...

read all the mumbo back then: paul is dead or paul isn't any good...or, at least, not any good w/o john is nothing new....

there've been paul haters from time immemorial...again, nothing new...

yep, alot of them were john fans..alot of those were egged on by john...yoko...johns 'people'..george...even ringo...klien...phil spector...whomever

alot of them were artsy-fartsy music fans/critics/whatevers...sure, they have egos...they all thought they knew...but as paul himself so boldly points out in 'early days'...well...y'know...

alot of 'em are talentless hacks who couldn't something as good as 'dance the do' if they tried...whiners...mewlers...posers...

some of 'em have even reviewed his works...music...albums...without actually even listening to them !

true story, that !!

alot of 'em bagged all over 'ram' when it came out...look at what everyone thinks about that now...

ditto 'M2"...

most of 'em don't really know squat...don't know about music...certainly don't know about mccartney music...they praise albums/songs/artists whom thier egos tell them is good...or the artists agents/brokers...and, yet, in an open, free market, no one really listens to them because they are not all that good, all that creative nor all that memorable...

but we know who is, right ?

let's not forget... while i'm a bit of a ol' fogey, and a few others around here are up there,too, there are quite a few of you who are youngsters...and it has been thusly all along this winding road: in the ATL, during the FITD tour, the stick-in- the-mud whiners were beatle fans...but in with the singalong/have-a-great-timers were some teenagers...teens singing along to FITD songs !!

and there were kids...teens...who were there to see 'all those old dinosaurs', macca being one, and they deemed his show better than clapton !!

so who gives a fig about what any of these twits think, right ??

lets make sure we don't put the cart before the horse...the radio system does not serve mccartney nor any of his peers (nor music fans who listen, right ?), so we cannot count on that...

the press is fickle to stupid...so we cannot count on that...

yet there are an awful lot of really good, even glowing reviews, not only for 'new', but for most everything he's done in the last few years to a decade or so...and there are still new mccartney fans...

as some wise person pointed out, there have always been haters...politicians get 'em...actors...writers...there've always been bullies, thinking they got something to say...

in other words: too mnay people preachin' practises, don't let them tell you what you want to be..or think..or dream..or listen to...

wise, and very prescient, words from afar...wouldn't you say ?

at the end of the end it's the start of a journey to a much better place and this wasn't bad so a much better place would have to be special...no need to be sad...

It was vogue for a long time to love John and hate Paul. John the hip radical who had all these ideas to save the world. Paul just kept putting out music and tried to get everybody to like him. The result is an overwhelming body of music probably matched by no one. I'm not knocking anybody's opinion but is there really a person alive who can't admit the musical contributions of this living legend? And yes, they'll wait until he's gone to jump on the bandwagon praising him. A worldly treasure not acknowledged by people trying to be too cool. Maybe I'm Amazed!!

ComeOnBrotha wrote:Yes I have seen some of these idiots and much worse than you posted. I find it interesting that these dolts are interested enough to seek him out on YouTube just to disparage him. I think they do it mostly to annoy fans in a weak attempt to try and ruin it for us. I don't think it has anything to do with his music for the most part. It just makes them look pathetic and unhappy with themselves. There are always plain old nut-jobs out there, too. That POS who killed Lennon was obsessed with him to the point where he thought John was an impostor who he needed to get rid of, thinking he was the real John Lennon.

The people who really are annoying are those who say he is too old and should retire. Many of these same people disrespect older people in general, which I find despicable. Some day we all get old if we're lucky enough to live that long. I am really enjoying the fact that Paul is 71 and still making great music and is full of life. He has taken great care of himself, loves what he does and he makes people happy by sharing his great talent. And that gets under the skin of people who have done very little with their lives, have given up or have simply resigned themselves. I know which path I prefer

I think there's a multiple number of reasons why people pick on Paul. I think it's sad that these people hide behind the anonymity of the Internet to post negative comments about Paul and other people both famous and not famous. These people are basically insecure and jealous. If these people hate their lives, they should get off the internet and try to make positive changes in their lives and fulfill their dreams. I do believe some people think Paul's too old and should retire and go away. If Paul were to do that, these naysayers would complain about that too. The way I see it, Paul can't win. I agree that they ought to be inspired by the fact that he's so active and enthusiastic about being an entertainer and composing great music.

bravefan wrote:It was vogue for a long time to love John and hate Paul. John the hip radical who had all these ideas to save the world. Paul just kept putting out music and tried to get everybody to like him. The result is an overwhelming body of music probably matched by no one. I'm not knocking anybody's opinion but is there really a person alive who can't admit the musical contributions of this living legend? And yes, they'll wait until he's gone to jump on the bandwagon praising him. A worldly treasure not acknowledged by people trying to be too cool. Maybe I'm Amazed!!

Agreed and I think part of it was where the initial news of The Beatles breaking up came from. Had John been the first to come out with a solo album, Paul wouldn't have taken the full brunt of criticism he received. Then Paul had the "balls" to have Linda as his musical partner while John put out his best song ever with "Imagine". The critics killed Ram when it came out and of course we all know what a great album it is. John goes on an anti-war peace and love crusade, gets persecuted by the US Govt which garnered a lot of sympathy. It didn't help that John and Paul were trading jabs musically. John then dies at age 40 at the hands of some nut. Some people still hang on to this stuff. It's sad, but I can see how all of this happened. I love how Paul finally addressed the re-writers of history in Early Days. It was long overdue.

Through it all, Paul never stopped making new music for us to enjoy and went on to become the most prolific composer & musician of our time by FAR. I don't think he will be fully appreciated until he is gone and those same critics will shower praise on him as if they were on his side the whole time. Pretty sad that they won't allow themselves to enjoy him while he is still around.

May sweet memories of friends from the past Always come to you, when you look for them And your inspiration long may it last May it come to you time and time again